A Fallen Leaf
by Neisan Patason
Summary: Naruto has had a hard life and he keeps trying to stay up but every time he does he just seems to become even more sad and depressed than before. After an attempt to take his life is not successful, Naruto will be closely monitored but will that be enough to save him? Rated M for Attempted suicide, Self-harm, Other dark elements.
1. Chapter 1 - Awakening

All Naruto could see was darkness. He felt nothing but self peace and calmness. Nothing was here, no sound, no sight, nothing. It felt nice being in an bare void like this, he didn't have to worry about anything anymore. It all felt okay, like everything was right in the world. But it wasn't. Some how he knew this was just his mind set but even with that thought on the top of his mind, he still didn't want to leave .'Just a little longer,' he thought 'and it will all be over.' He knew he was dying but he still didn't care, it was after all what _they_ want. And he couldn't keep lying to himself because in all honesty it's also what he started to want.

'They both tried so hard. Ino, Sakura. Thank you.', He knew they would miss him. Not that he understood it, he just knew. They were the light in his darkness. He was happy when they had first showed up in his life and on top of that they actually cared about him and his feelings, but after a while he realized that his selfishness was hurting them. The looks and whispers about them, they acted like they didn't hear it but Naruto knew that it hurt them. He could easily see it in their eyes, but of course they tried to hide it for his sake.

He didn't want to cause them pain anymore. He knew it would only get worse for them. He just couldn't do that to them anymore. He only felt it for a second. The Kunai gliding across his throat. It was a messy way to die but he wouldn't be there for the aftermath. The villagers would just end up burning his tiny apartment anyway. They would probably laugh through the entire thing as well. Naruto smiled. 'That's probably the most appropriate way for a demon to die' he thought. 'Burn all his belongings and memories. That's the best way to do it. I guess it wont be that bad, I didn't have much in the first place.'

As Naruto was enjoying his time he began to start feeling sensations again. He could feel a starchy thin sheet laid over his body, he could also hear people chattering away about what they were going to make for dinner, what their favorite outfit is for different occasions or just other random topics of gossip. Naruto also smelled fresh air and flowers, they smelled nice and brought a warm feeling to his heart.

Even as Naruto's curiosity grew he just couldn't find the strength to open his eyes. Unlike earlier when he felt so calm and relaxed he now felt just extremely tired and weak. He felt as a dying leaf giving its last breath in the fall when it finally looses its grip and falls accepting its fate and allowing winter its time of reign. He felt as that weak leaf. So instead of doing anything he decided to let his curiosity grow just a bit more because no matter how uncomfortable his bed was. He was simply to tired to care.

He didn't know how long he slept, he just knew that when he did wake up he heard hushed whispers in his room. It was two people, a man and a woman, they were trying to be quiet but Naruto could hear them clear as day. "Did he really try to-?" But the woman was cut off by a man "Shh, quiet, he's waking up." The male doctor walked over to Naruto's bedside and stood for a moment before taking a look at his clipboard, scanning it for a moment. He glanced at Naruto and every time he did the doctor took on a look of disgust. "So Demon. Kunai to the throat?" The doctor spat "You're a real pussy aren't you? The only reason you could've possibly survived that is by being a real demon huh? Aren't you always the one trying to defend the position that you aren't one. So how do you explain this you piece of shit?! You're the same worthless trash that killed my son! You ruined so many lives!" The doctor started getting angry and his eyes teared up.

This didn't go unnoticed by Naruto, so many thoughts were going through his head at this point. 'Did I really kill his son. Am I that bad of a person? But I would remember if I did that wouldn't I?' At this point Naruto was crying and shaking as much as the furious doctor that was yelling at him, but instead of shaking in rage like the doctor Naruto was shaking in disgust of himself. The doctor continued on his rant "You killed way more than just my son you bastard! My wife, my uncle, my brother, but you have done so much more than that!", The doctor growled out "Hikaru! You know what Lord Third does to people who talk about what happened!", the female doctor ran over to the now known Hikaru and tried to stop him by pulling him out of Naruto's hospital room but the man was dead-set on telling Naruto about what happened on that day.

"You know the Nine Tails attack twelve years ago?" Naruto slowly nodded his head yes already having a thought about what he was inferring, "That damned demon destroyed half of the village, killing so many good people. Neighbors, friends, family. All of them innocent. And that tale about the Fourth Hokage killing it was a lie.", To this the nurses eyes widened a bit and she took on the face of shock, but her expression couldn't come close to matching Naruto's. "Yes Lord Fourth was strong but no human alive could've killed a demon like the Nine Tails. He had to seal it, he never even came close to killing it. He just had weakened it enough to seal it into a baby.", Naruto's eyes started to fill with tears as he already knew what the man was going to say.

Before anything else could be said a squad of Anbu alongside the Hokage burst into the small room. An Anbu member wearing a hippo mask unsheathed his Katana and in one fluent move had the sword against the doctors jugular, ready to slice through it at any moment. A deep voice emitted from behind Hippo's mask "You are under arrest due to the law set in acti-." The Hokage quickly cut Hippo off. "I'm sure he knows exactly why this is happening. You don't need to say any more. Dismissed, and take him with you." Hippo and his team visibly relaxed. A chorus of 'yes sir' was said by all four men before Hippo not so easily dragged Hikaru down the hall of the hospital; said man hurtling curses the entire way down. The Hokage turned towards the nurse that was in the room at the time and she visibly flinched at the Hokage's eye contact. "You have done nothing wrong but could you give us some privacy for a while please?", The Hokage gave the young girl a smile, "Y-Yes Lord H-H-Hokage." She quickly bowed respectively before taking her leave.

The Hokage's stern face melted into a sad smile as soon as he saw Naruto's broken and terrified form. The old shinobi walked over to Naruto's bedside and sat at the foot of the bed, his back towards Naruto. "Why did you try to take your own life Naruto? People care for you, how about those friends that you liked playing with? They really care about you. It will take you a while to heal, that was a deep wound you know. It wasn't easy to fix, we had the best doctors working on you for a few hours." Naruto looked down for some reason his starchy uncomfortable bed sheets were the most interesting thing in the world now. Naruto was to ashamed to answer the Hokage, even is he had found the courage to answer him he couldn't for a while at least

Hiruzen sighed softly but decided to drop the subject for now. "Would you like your friends to come see you Naruto?", 'Will they hate me?' he thought 'what if they find out I'm a demon? It's probably what would be for the best if they found out and left me.' Hiruzen looked at Naruto and knew exactly what was going on inside of his head, "I guess you know the truth about twelve years ago then. But even though the Nine Tails is sealed within you it doesn't make you the demon. You are just his cage, in actuality you are the savior of this village Naruto. Without you, the demon would have destroyed the village long ago. The damned villagers are to blinded by hate to realize that you are the savior of this village." Naruto still felt horrible, nothing anyone could say anymore could convince him of that. He just knew there had to be a reason people hated him and now he knew at least but it still didn't fill the hole in his heart. "And your two little friends. If they care about the real you at all, then they will accept you demon or not." The Hokage smiled at Naruto and he returned the gesture. Even a child could tell it wasn't genuine. His smiles had never been genuine for a long time.

Hiruzen glanced at a clock set up on Naruto's small nightstand and realized its getting late, "How about you get some rest and in the morning you can decide whether or not you want your friends to visit, okay?" He simply nodded and gazed out the window for a moment or two then pulled the sheets up higher and closed his eyes. The Hokage slowly stood up and walked to the door before slipping out and closing the door as softly as possible.

Naruto didn't wake up until nearly noon. When he did he didn't get up, didn't eat the breakfast and more than likely wouldn't eat the soon coming lunch. He just started to think about things. A lot had happened to him in the past 24 hours. So now he knew what he truly was. There was nothing anymore, he felt empty. The old man's words didn't comfort his aching at all. He knew in his mind that they were indeed meant to calm him down and tame his feelings about the situation but it's just that something inside of Naruto wouldn't let him accept that.

A small knock echoed in the bland boxy room. Naruto looked up and stared at the door, he couldn't really do much else than that, so he waited. After a few moments a young man poked his head in the door. He was fairly tall, 5'10 or 5'11, a little over weight, he had a very light skin complexion, light brown eyes, with jet black hair, overall he was fairly handsome and he looked friendly but Naruto knew people could easily deceive others with a simple smile.

"Hi. Um I'm sorry but this is Naruto Uzumaki, correct?" Naruto eyed him for a second before slowly nodding his head, "Great! I will be your personal doctor for your stay here." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head and smiled nervously, "And about that first question, I actually had walked in on more than a few people who well, weren't you." Naruto smiled a little at that. The doctor walked over to his bed, "Listen. The Hokage gave me this job because he trusts me, he told me about yesterday." Naruto looked at the man. He had a genuine look of friendship in his eyes, "I know about the Nine Tails but Naruto, I hold no grudge against you in any way." The man smiled and patted Naruto on the shoulder lightly.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I never introduced myself." He quickly stood up straight and bowed, "I'm Makoto Takagi, It's a pleasure to meet you." The blonde haired boy gave Makoto a look down before releasing a small but true smile. He then nodded his head in a gesture that he had accepted him, at this Makoto smiled like a child who just received a new toy, "I'm so glad that we can talk on the same level." Makoto's face dropped of it's childishness for a moment, "We need to talk about your friends."

Naruto looked at him for a moment before he started playing with one of the ridges on his sheets, once again his bed sheets were the most interesting thing in his room

Makoto sighed, "No one has told them about what happened Naruto." He passed Naruto a sad glance. There was a shared awkward silence between the two. Makoto didn't really know how to talk to him about this situation, it's not like he has ever had to go through the same thing as Naruto, so he didn't know how to help him. Makoto ran his hand through his hair and sighed once again, he was trying his best to help Naruto but he just didn't know what he could possibly accomplish.

"They go to your apartment almost every day after they go to the academy. I've even talked to your teacher." Naruto looked up, he had completely forgotten about Iruka, "He hasn't been at the academy since Lord Hokage informed him about what happened to you." Naruto continued fingering the folds of his sheets feeling guilty about the whole thing. Naruto began to tear up. He realized that he had been selfish, he hurt the people that cared about him, 'Iruka Sensei, Ino, Sakura, Lord Hokage. I was selfish,' he looked down with a doleful look on his face.

Makoto broke Naruto of his sad trance like state by clearing his throat. Naruto snapped his head towards Makoto, "Yesterday when I was in the Hokage's office he was telling me a little bit about your friends." At this Naruto looked surprised that the Hokage would tell Makoto anything at all about his personal life. Naruto realized that the Old Man really must have trusted him. At the same time it angered him a little, but he could accept it due to the circumstances at hand. "They do care about you kid. I bet even if they knew about your tenant they wouldn't see you in any different light."

Naruto was having an internal battle.

He didn't know how in the world he was going to be able to tell his friends about the fuzzball in his gut. On one hand he felt it was his duty to tell them and let them decide whether they want to still remain his friends or not. But, then again on the other hand he could just hide the truth and be their friend forever.

He frowned at his final thought before sighing. Once again he was being selfish. Of course he would have to tell them, they had been best friends since they were 9. 'If they choose to accept me then they do, and if they don't. Then they don't.' Thought Naruto with a sad look on his face.

Makoto saw the turmoil in the boys eyes so he tried to lighten the mood. "Hey how about when you do decide to tell them, I will be right next to you the entire time. Does that sound good?" Once again the childish look was plastered on the pale doctors face. Naruto chuckled a little just as a way to get his mind off of what has recently occurred.

The doctor began chuckling until it broke out into a full hearty laugh. He wiped a tear from his eye and caught his breath, "Your laughter sure is contagious huh Naruto?" Naruto looked up to see Makoto with a grin sprawled across his features. Makoto cleared his throat, "Now it's time to talk business. First of all is your neck." He trailed off in his words for a moment before gathering his thoughts and continuing, "It will take some time to heal. I would estimate maybe a year or a tad longer for it to be completely back to normal, it just all depends on future issues we will have with it. Also it will leave quite a large scar since you were so rough with the cut."

Naruto looked around sheepishly trying to focus on anything besides the man that stood in front of him.

"Secondly, and this is the more important topic at the moment Naruto. You will need to be monitored and will need to start seeing a therapist weekly so to fix this problem you will be staying with the Yamanakas." Naruto didn't say anything but you could definitely see the surprise in his eyes. Makoto chuckled at this. "The reason why you are staying with them is because for one. Inoichi is great with the mind and will be the perfect therapist for you. And then Ino can help monitor you and you also do deserve happiness kid."

Makoto truly felt that this was the best solution for the time being as it would let Naruto have an adoptive family and he could be monitored but the best part of it was that he was finally going to get the happiness that he has always deserved.

"Inoichi was the one who suggested this since he knew of your close relationship with his daughter," Makoto put his hands up in a defensive manner, "But not to worry, he hasn't said anything to Ino. He wont say anything until he gets the say from you.

With that Makoto walked to the door and opened it before turning back to Naruto, "Get some sleep. You are gonna need it to heal." At that Makoto slowly shut his door while Naruto was busy settling back into his sheets, 'Maybe not everyone is as bad as I thought.' Thought Naruto happily before he drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Game of Shogi

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Naruto characters, Kishimoto is the owner. The only thing that I own is the plot line and very few characters that I add into the story. Thanks.

 **Warnings:** Most of my chapters will have some form of dark content whether it be an attempted suicide, gore, character death, self harm, or any other type that you can think of I DO write dark stories so please just always be prepared for some kind of dark element it is almost 100% of the time there. Thanks guys.

 **Author's Note:** I know this may sound stupid and quite frankly it's extremely embarrassing but I didn't add in any notes before or after the last chapter because I didn't know if it was added right before you posted the chapter or not so I apologize for that. I'm still new to this 'fanfic' thing so I'm apologizing early for any mistakes that I make and I would appreciate it if any of you guys could give me pointers on how to get better at this. Any tips or pointers will help thank you guys.

On another note since this is my first story I wanna talk a little about what I write. The stories that I write may not involve much romance. I do like a little romance in stories but I'm not very good at writing it, I'm sorry that's just not my style. What I will be writing is more tragedy type stories with a lot of downs and not a lot of ups for one or more of the characters.

Most of my stories WILL have dark elements and depressing factors if you are not into that I can't blame you. That's why I put my warnings. I WILL NOT write ANY yaoi (boy on boy) or any yuri (girl on girl) I have no problems with the LGBT community or any author who creates that style of writing. For me I personally don't read it much. There are a few exceptions that I do read if they are exceptionally well written or something like that. Also once again that style of writing falls under romance and not just that but same sex romance is much more difficult to write in my opinion.

Anyway, like I said before most if not all my style falls under the angst category and will probably contain deep content so be prepared guys.

This will easily be my longest author's note on probably any of my chapters or even probably other stories. Thanks so much for reading all the way down here guys, have a great read and a great day!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

 _Jutsu (Japanese)_

 _ **Jutsu (English translation)**_

" **Kyuubi speech"**

 **'Kyuubi thoughts'**

 **Chapter 2**

Naruto woke up for what seemed the millionth time in the past two days. He still felt that annoying hospital sheet that he had grown to hate laying across his body. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and quickly snapped them shut again when the bright light from the room flashed across his retinas. After a few moments of blinking his eyes he became accustomed to the bright light from not only his room lights but also from the large window that had its shades drawn, allowing the maximum amount of sunlight to enter the room.

Naruto looked around the room and saw Makoto sitting on a few sweaters in the corner looking over papers that were scattered over what looked like an old chest that the doctor must have dragged into the room just to work on whatever he was working on.

Naruto continued staring at the man until he finally took notice of the boy watching him do his paperwork. Makoto smiled and pushed himself up and let out a breath of air, "Oh man, I think I'm getting to old." The doctor stopped, he held one hand to his chin in a thinking pose while the other rested on his plump belly, "Or maybe it's just because I eat way to much tonkatsu." His eyes rose as his smile grew, "But who can resist it. Mmm it's so tasty and I mean-" Makoto blushed and cleared his throat once his stomach began to growl.

Naruto snickered as Makoto tried to pout and argue saying that he hadn't eaten in a while. 'He acts just like a kid and it's kind of nice that there is someone here that cares.' Makoto walked over to his makeshift desk and scanned over a few papers before turning back to Naruto, smiling his childish smile, "Hey, I was reading over your files and reports and you should be able to leave in a few days Naruto! Isn't that great?" Makoto smiled happily and Naruto gave a halfhearted grin.

Makoto once again lost his happy demeanor and fell into his serious mode, "You are going to have to make your decision soon about whether or not you are okay with staying at the Yamanakas." Makoto looked toward Naruto, seeing his expression was one in deep thought, he cleared his throat before speaking again, "I know that you don't like this Naruto and Lord Hokage doesn't like doing this to you but he's trying to give you the best in the situation that you're in." He saw the confused look in Naruto's eyes. Makoto looked down at his worn shoes before rubbing his own tired eyes and continued his speech, "Listen, Naruto what you did we can't just put past us and act like nothing ever even happened. We understand why you did it and no one can blame you-" Naruto raised his hand to stop the doctor.

Naruto glared straight at Makoto making said man sweat profusely while also trying to figure out what he had done to make the boy angry. Makoto stepped uncomfortably from one foot to the other as he scrambled to figure it out. Then it all rushed to him at once.

Pity.

The boy didn't like receiving it, "Naruto, I'm sorry." He looked at the boy and noticed the anger in his eyes, "We don't pity you. None of us do. Lord Hokage doesn't, Iruka, hell even Inoichi doesn't pity you and the bastard doesn't even know you!" He stopped to let out a hearty laugh until he realized he was the only one who had thought it was funny, he coughed awkwardly to try to break the moment before continuing on again, "None of us pity you Naruto but we do think that you need help. "

Naruto sighed. After listening to how Makoto viewed his situation he decided that the older man was right. He nodded his head towards the man showing him that he agreed with him and would accept the help of all of the Yamanakas. Makoto began to grin like a little school girl who had just seen her crush.

"Alright then, as soon as I get the chance to talk to Inoichi-san I will tell him to inform his daughter of the changes." He stopped once he saw the mortified look on Naruto's face, "Don't worry about it. I will make sure that he doesn't tell Ino what actually happened until you are ready okay?" Naruto nodded at this and the plump doc' smiled, "That's all that I needed to talk to you about Naruto but if you need anything just send a nurse to get me. I will check on you periodically and give you an update soon about when you will be released."

Naruto watched as Makoto walked over to the chest with all of his papers on them and shuffled through the stack, clipping a few to a clipboard he had in his hand before sliding open the door and with a small wave once again left Naruto in the room alone.

Now that Naruto wasn't focusing on someone he looked around the room and noticed fresh flowers by his bedside with a small card, he picked up the card and looked it over. It was hand drawn and was nearly perfect. It had pictures of flowers and trees on a hill overlooking a beautiful sunset. On top of the hill were three figures. One pink headed girl, one platinum headed girl, and in the middle was a blonde headed boy.

Naruto smiled as he realized that is was Sakura, Ino, and himself. He flipped open the card and smiled softly to himself as he read the card. It was written in perfect cursive writing. What was he thinking? Of course it was perfect, Ino and Sakura were the ones to write the damn card.

 _Naruto,_

 _Ino and I know that you have been sick for a few days now and we just wanted to say that we hope you get better, both of us are worried. I mean you haven't been to the academy in a while. It's felt empty for a while. Even though you always have kept to yourself people miss you. It feels so different without you. We miss you a lot and we hope that you enjoyed the flowers we sent. Thank Ino Pig for them, she is the flower nerd so she's the only reason we sent them. But I thought of the card!_

Naruto noticed that the handwriting had gotten a little sloppy after that sentence and realized that they must have bickered for a moment before the handwriting changed but was still extremely neat and pretty, 'So Ino-san must have taken the pen here then.' He smiled and he chuckled to himself before reading on.

 _Well even though Forehead thought of the card I thought of the flowers which are way more special than the card! And on top of that I would have thought of the card soon enough! Anyway, we just wanted you to know that we care and hope that you get better soon Naruto. Oh, and Shikamaru wanted to say he hopes that you get well soon as well._

 _Signed,_

 _The Beautiful Ino_

 _and_

 _Forehead Girl_

He smiled to himself, 'So they are still bickering like always. Well that's nice to hear I guess,' Since Naruto was going to be here for a little he just decided to try to rest as much as possible since there wasn't much that he could do in the situation hat he was in. So with that in mind he carefully set the card back down near the flowers and once again let sleep overcome him.

XXXXX

It had been a long five days for Naruto. But at least today was the day that he was to be released, so he had that to look forward to.

His throat throbbed and hurt most of the time, even though Makoto explained to him that it would do that for a bit of time. After all things took time to heal.

Naruto's entire neck was lightly wrapped in gauze with a scar cream rubbed in to help with how badly it would scar in the future. Yes it would help but Makoto did inform Naruto that he would have a nasty scar for the rest of his life. He also messed with him by saying that all the ladies love a man with a sexy scar. It wouldn't have embarrassed the young blonde as much as it did if the plump doc' hadn't of wiggled his eyebrows up and down after he said it.

Naruto still hadn't spoken to anyone since he woke up in the hospital and he had only drank water and once ate a small portion of some kind of fruit sauce that looked like cranberry sauce and tasted like no particular fruit that he knew of.

Naruto was to be released at 12:15. He glanced at the clock. It was barely 9:36. He sighed. Makoto was off today but he promised the blonde that he would hang around his room and then take him to his old apartment to get anything he wanted or needed for his new home at the Yamanaka residence.

Naruto was well, bored, he had nothing to do and since Makoto had still not shown up, he had no-one to entertain him. So Naruto got up since he was so sick and tired of being in that damned bed 24/7. After getting up decided he was going to help the person who cleans the vacant rooms and he made his bed. Well his cleaning job was over, he now had nothing to do so he just read over the card that Ino-san and Sakura-san made for him.

After reading the card so much that he nearly memorized every word of it he set the card back down and checked his clock. 9:58. It had been 22 minutes and Makoto-san still hadn't shown up. So he just waited, and waited a little more.

Around 10:15 the man finally showed up a little out of breath, "Sorry, Naruto I just finished up all my paperwork and then a tad extra so I wouldn't be so overloaded tomorrow," Naruto crossed his arms before sighing and smiling a tad bit at the man. Makoto being Makoto just giggled. "Oh, I almost forgot!" Makoto pulled his satchel off and opened it, rifling through different papers. Naruto in turn gave a puzzled look before seeing the man pull out a box.

"I bought this a little while ago when I was checking out some shops on an off day," he opened the box revealing small game pieces and what looked like a piece of cardboard with markings on it, Naruto turned his head to the side trying to figure out for the life of him what this was.

Noticing the younger boys confusion and curiosity, he decided to tell him. "This-," he pointed towards the cardboard and cheap wooden game pieces, "-Is a board game called Shogi," Naruto looked less confused now since he has at least heard the name before.

"Since obviously you don't really know how to play I figure I can teach you. So how 'bout it Naruto? You up for a match?," the young pre-teen smiled a small smile before nodding in acceptance of the offer to a game of Shogi.

XXXXX

Naruto and Makoto were about ready to leave. He just waited for Naruto to change into some clothes that he had brought for him since he couldn't wear his hospital garb out. He came out of the bathroom after changing into an old pair of black sneakers that Makoto was allowing him to keep along with some of Makoto's old shorts and shirt, the shorts being a light olive, almost white in color and a dark black sweater with a white hood, torso, and sleeves. Naruto still wearing the gauze around his neck of course. Peeking though at the neck of his hoodie.

The boy did like the clothes, yet he still felt really bad at the fact that Makoto was just giving them to him yet he had done nothing for the man. He just felt bad, he would somehow have to pay the man back for all the kindness that he gave to him.

Makoto smiled brightly at how the boy looked. Even though he was slightly pale he still thought the boy looked nice, "Looks like my old clothes from my younger days fit you huh?" Naruto looked down at what he was wearing and nodded slowly, "Hey kid don't feel bad about it. I want to give you those clothes as a gift. So I hope you enjoy!"

Naruto felt slightly better now at the fact that the man gave him these clothes but that still didn't change his mind about how he was going to pay him back for all his kindness.

The young doctor opened the door and motioned for Naruto to follow him, the younger boy complying. They walked down the bland, boring, white halls for a bit. Naruto was glad he had Makoto with him or he would have lost the way a long time ago. They continued walking for a few minutes with Makoto talking enthusiastically the entire time not noticing or maybe just not caring about all the glares he and Naruto were getting from his own co-workers.

Naruto looked down at the tiles and listened to Makoto trying to keep his mind on anything but the people around them. He was thankful for the older man. He seemed to notice Naruto's discomfort and rested his right hand lightly on Naruto's upper back, steering him away from any rushing nurses or doctors. And even when a few people began to whisper Makoto seemed to speak even louder about his pointless stories so that Naruto didn't have to worry about the whispers.

After countless amounts of twists, turns, and an elevator they reached the main entrance and left allowing Naruto to finally feel free and gone from his prison. It had only been a little less than five days but he couldn't help but notice the smell of the grass, birds chirping, and even appreciate the wind for all it does.

"Well that's it for me playing tour guide," Makoto smiled at Naruto, "Now it's your turn to lead me to your place kid." Naruto complied immediately and began walking to his apartment with Makoto in tow. It really wasn't too bad until they hit the market district and it was of course, rush hour, all the glares bothered him, but what devastated him was whispering, hell some just flat out talked shit and didn't give a damn about the thirds law.

Makoto realized this and soon started blabbering on again about his childhood dog named 'Poof Poof' or how he broke a vase once and tried to blame it on his brother of which he didn't have. It was quite a walk to Naruto's apartment but the man never let up once. Naruto kind of grew a little worried about how the man didn't keel over and die due to lack of oxygen or something like that.

Walking up the steps to his door he just knew he now owed the man even more. His kindness was so much that he wasn't sure he deserved any, but still welcomed and loved it in his life.

Naruto was about to grab his spare key from in between a small crack on the wall until he saw that his door was already slightly ajar. He sighed and thought that either the person who helped him left it open or that someone broke in. Quite frankly he didn't really care anymore. It's not like he would be living here much longer anyway so there was no point to feel down about it.

He pushed open the door to see a few items of his thrown on the ground. He only owned a few pictures, his bed, a small table for eating, one old pillow, an old blanket, a few soap bars, a couple of kunai for various reasons mainly being ninja tools, very few shuriken, and then of course his ninja pouch.

He turned to Makoto and motioned him inside. The man looked around before flashing a small smile to Naruto and began to help him get his stuff together. Naruto started with the pictures since that was all he cared for at the moment, he had four in total. One of himself, Ino, and Sakura all smiling happily at the camera when they were about 9 years old, Shikamaru taking the picture for them. The second one was of Sakura and Ino sitting together on a bench once again smiling towards the camera. The third was of just Sakura and the last one was a picture of just Ino. Those two pictures were taken only a week or two back.

Naruto smiled at the pictures sadly before stuffing them in his pocket before taking the ninja pouch from Makoto. Naruto was confused as to why it was so light before he opened it and saw none of his weapons inside. He looked on the floor and couldn't see a single kunai or shuriken. Puzzled he turned toward Makoto and cocked his head to the side.

Makoto merely lifted his satchel and slightly shook it. The sound of metal hitting metal rang in Naruto's ears. He was about to reach for his satchel until he realized why he took them. He was a little angered by that fact but he couldn't be upset with Makoto for this. After all, it was his own fault. Makoto smiled slightly, "Don't worry Naruto, I will give them back to you as soon as Inoichi-san says you can have them back.'

Naruto sighed and nodded, attaching the empty pouch to his leg and slipping the pictures from his pocket into the pouch so they wouldn't get as damaged.

Naruto did a once over. Not even going near the bathroom since he didn't know if it was cleaned after the incident. No, probably not so he played it safe and just left it alone. He went around getting anything he didn't want throwing it into the garbage can out beside the apartments. He wouldn't miss the stuff anyway.

Now that they were done with that he and Makoto began the walk to the Yamanakas. Even though Naruto had met Inoichi before he was still terrified to go to their house, 'Will Inoichi-san be disappointed in me? Will Ino-san not want t be friends anymore? Will I be all alone again like before?' So many of these questions ran through the boys mind but he tossed them aside. He would just have to wait and see when he got there.

The walk was absolutely horrid. Naruto was terrified of the outcomes. Even though, he promised to push the thoughts aside he couldn't help but to think about what would happen when they arrived. Makoto kept quiet realizing that the boy needed time to think so he allowed him to. The only way he would talk now is if the insults and whispers started; for now though, they seemed to tame themselves.

The walk felt like it took ages but now they finally stood in front of the Yamanaka Flower Shop. It was closed but Makoto opened the door with a key before walking in and locking the door behind them. Makoto walked to the door that led up to the living quarters of the shop and raised his hand before knocking on the door three times.

 **Authors Note:**

I really hope that you guys enjoyed that chapter and I know that it took a long time for me to update. I'm not going to give any bullshit excuse. I got lazy. End of story, I will try my best to get better at that and there actually will be times when I'm busy as hell and just cant write but I will tell you guys when that happens. For now though I hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me what needs fixing, I would love feedback about how I'm doing. This is my first fan fiction and I want honest feedback so don't sugar coat it please. Thanks and I will see you guys next time!


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